The Double-Edged Sword
- When Abilities Become Liabilities to Creative Potential

 

When creatively-gifted individuals do not fully understand their own specific cluster of innate aptitudes they are often at risk for some expectable kinds of challenges.  These challenges appear to fall into two major categories, ‘root influences’ and ‘derivative effects.’

 

The use of the terms, root influences and derivative effects make an important distinction between the challenges that stem directly from an aptitude, and those that are the result of a negative cascade of experiences that derive from unmediated root influences.  The distinction between root influences and derivative effects brings clarity to the process of accurately naming and effectively dealing with one’s experience.  The deepest root of both potentialities and liabilities are the creative aptitudes themselves.   

 

Root Influences

 

Root influences are emotional, psychological and physiological challenges that stem directly from an aptitude itself.  Examples include:

• Feeling overwhelmed by the difficulty of managing high ideaphoria and divergent thinking patterns.

• A depression caused by a lack of creative or intellectual fulfillment, i.e., environments, activities or people that are creatively or intellectually under-stimulating or repressive.

• Anxiety, irritability or fatigue brought on by the combination of having strong sensory skills and environmental stimulation, resulting in sensory ‘overload’

Significant questions in making an assessment of root influences might include:

 

Am I obsessive-compulsive, or do my finely-tuned visual abilities call upon me to respect my aesthetic sensibility by creating an environment of visual beauty and order? 

 

Do I actually have a biochemical depression, or am I an imaginative person living among a plethora of concrete thinkers?

 

Do I really have ADD, or am I attempting to keep up with my numerous ideas, interests and activities to an extent that is humanly unrealistic?

 

There are times when one may be faced with challenges that accompany the existence of creative aptitudes and a mental health problem.  On these occasions, care needs to be taken in making a differential diagnosis so that each aspect of experience can be accurately identified on its own terms.  Otherwise an inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis may be reached. 
The most frequent mental health diagnoses that creatively-gifted people receive are:   Bipolar Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Oppositional-Defiant Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder and the Adjustment Disorders. 

 

Derivative Effects  

 

Derivative effects occur when root influences are not identified or dealt with as such, and/or are attributed to the wrong cause.  In derivative effects, the fallout from an unmediated creative aptitude causes a negative ripple effect in one or more aspect of one’s life.  Major areas where derivative effects are likely to emerge are in self-identity, physical health and current life situation - a lack of ‘fit’ with a relationship, occupation, academic major or general environment, often diagnosed as an adjustment disorder.

 

Self-Identity

Many highly creative people accept mistaken notions about themselves including the beliefs of being “too sensitive,” “too emotional,” “too much of a perfectionist,” “thinking too much” and having “too many ideas.”  These negative descriptions and the beliefs that result can cause damage to one’s self identity and contribute to an inability to correctly identify the problem and the aptitudes that may be hidden underneath the apparent problem. 

 

The word “too” is a relative term, usually used by those who do not have the same proficiency as the one being described.  Just as we understand that it would be inappropriate to tell someone they are “too intelligent,” all aptitudes deserve similar objective recognition.

 

Based on an accurate understanding of aptitudes, mistaken beliefs need to be reframed.  For instance, those who are “too sensitive” may have acute sensory skills, those who have “too many ideas” may have high ideaphoria, and those who are considered “too much of a perfectionist” may possess keen visual or visionary abilities.

 

Rather than being seen as weaknesses, a “too” can signal the existence of exceptional aptitudes that can be parlayed into a satisfying life and career.  For example, one with strong visual aptitudes may excel in graphic design, empirical research or other occupations that require one to be highly observant.

 

‘Adjustment Disorders’
Many highly creative people struggle simply because they do not see themselves or their abilities clearly.  A lack of clarity about one’s capabilities can result in the experience of going from job to job, relationship to relationship, all the while attempting to find an authentic psychological and situational ‘home.’  The experience of wandering through life is often accompanied by a recurrent thought:  I know I am an intelligent person, but I can’t figure out why I have not been able to make more of my life than I have. 

 

With passing time, the existence of high ability and the lack, or relative lack, of outward success, can result in lost hope of ever fulfilling one’s creative potential.

 

The problem with the term ‘adjustment disorder’ is that the perspective inferred by the phrase often puts ‘the cart before the horse.’  Many ‘adjustment disorders’ occur purely because the individual is in the wrong situation for their individual set of aptitudes, interests and values.  When this is the case, adjustment disorders need to be recognized as a symptom of a different fundamental cause:  Because I do not recognize who I really am, I continue to make choices and accept situations that are not in alignment with my authentic aptitudes, interests, values and needs.
 

On the academic front, highly creative individuals often have aptitudes that lie outside the realm of standardized tests and the values and skill sets emphasized in a conventional academic program.  Standardized tests and most traditional curricula stress linear thinking and the logical/mathematical and linguistic ‘intelligences’ to the neglect of other aptitudes.  This emphasis places many creatively-gifted students at risk for poor academic performance and the unfortunate conclusion that they may not be as intelligent as other students.

 

Academic problems can also stem from a lack of compatibility between learning style and teaching style, as when a linear-thinking teacher expects a divergent-thinking student to solve a problem using a step-by-step approach to the exclusion of other methods, i.e., an inductive approach.

 

Problems and difficulties experienced in school often continue in the form of work and career difficulties once one has graduated.  Adequate information about one’s ‘driving’ aptitudes - the ones that must be used on a regular basis in order to feel fulfilled and successful - and how they can be linked with authentic interests and values is a frequently-neglected cornerstone in education and the workplace, thus setting individuals up for a ‘trial and error’ approach in life and work.

 

In their relationships, many highly creative people describe themselves as feeling bored, dissatisfied or unfulfilled.  These feelings may signal that they are relating to another who does not share the same degree of intellectual complexity, emotional awareness or imagination.

 

In order to resolve ‘adjustment disorders’ creatively-gifted people need to recognize who they are, relative to their strengths and weaknesses, thus empowering them to move away from the “square peg in the round hole” experience. One can then marshal the necessary internal and external resources needed to tackle the remaining expectable and unavoidable aspects of work and daily life.

 

Medical Conditions
Highly creative individuals can develop certain medical conditions as a result of stress stemming from unresolved identity issues, chronically unsuitable environments, living with the sense that there is something ‘wrong’ with one’s self, and a naturally-sensitive nervous system that is not adequately protected from the ‘assaults’ of environment and daily life.

 

Predominant conditions include:

• Allergies, skin disorders
• Metabolic disorders
• Thyroid, and other hormone imbalances
• Adrenal fatigue
• Neurotransmitter imbalances
• Fatigue and sleeping disorders